The Overbooking Problem
I recently noticed, after conferring with various club colleagues, that a number of 'established' acts, some going back nearly 30 years, idiotically persist in trying to play out as many as four times a month in the various core area venues as if Boston was some megalopolis like New York.
It is not. It is a second string city and this practice is utterly self defeating. They piss off booking agents, burn out audiences and enter into a kind of doom spiral.
It is deceitful to pull this stunt on the Booker and increasingly dumb as a booker can just glance at your myspace schedule and go..."Oh.. Numbnuts and the Rusty Trombones are playing across the river TWO DAYS before they are supposed to be at my tinsel palace.... fuckheads."
Then consider the audience. They are your friends, right? When you pull this it is like saying you're so bitchin' that they should cough up 50 bucks several times a month of their hard earned money to see you trudge through the same fawking set list they probably already know by heart. Why not just pick their pockets and be done with it?
Boston looms large in the minds of its bands. But only around a half million people live here and the vast majority are yuppies, high rollers, trust fund brats and busy students who have lives and can't be expected to give a rats ass about you.
And yet, out beyond, in the vast doughnut defined by 495 and 128 are FOUR MILLION people living dull lives in drab burbs WITH VERY LITTLE TO DO!
There are gin mills scattered throughout the doughnut and many are likely to actually be excited by bands from the 'big city'. There are cool old mill towns like Lowell that have little scenes where you can play. There is a compact 6 state region out there with fairly short drive times compared with the West Coast.
The younger 'kid' bands are a different story. You are in the early stages of your audience growth and usually get out more as opening acts piggy backed on some bigger bill and you serve a useful role. Once you get 40+ people showing up you can kick back.
Basically less is more or to reshape an old Dan Hicks lyric,'How can they miss you when you won't go away?"
